Newspapers: Backing for anti-SLAPPs law
A group of media lawyers, including newspaper general counsel and KCs, have put their names to an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling for stronger anti-SLAPP provisions.
The letter marked the fifth anniversary of the UK Anti-SLAPP coalition, launched to combat abusive lawsuits, often described as strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, that aim to stifle public criticism.
“Without concerted action, everyone who speaks out – whether to protest the actions of a powerful company, ask questions of someone of influence or speak out on issues important to themselves or their community, will remain vulnerable to costly, stressful and unpredictable legal action,” it said.
The open letter was signed by 127 editors, lawyers, academics, journalists, publishers and civil society representatives and calls for universal anti-SLAPP provisions in the 2026 King’s Speech, which is expected in May.
It was also sent to other cabinets ministers, leaders of other main UK political parties and the chief executives of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Bar Standards Board and Legal Services Board.
Among the lawyers to sign it were Nicki Schroeder, group general counsel at Reach, Pia Sarma, editorial legal director at Times Newspapers, Gavin Millar KC, Marc Willers KC, Rupert Cowper-Coles, head of media at City law firm RPC, and Matthew Jury, managing partner of McCue Jury & Partners.
“While the inclusion of anti-SLAPP measures in the 2023 Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) was a welcome and official recognition of the problem, the provisions are both limited in scope and flawed in approach,” Sir Keir was told.
“Many of us who have signed this letter know firsthand the impact of being subject to abusive legal threats and would agree with your description of them as ‘intolerable’.”
The ECCTA provisions only apply to SLAPPs relating to economic crime and the letter said it was time to turn government rhetoric condemning SLAPPs into action.
The anti-SLAPPs law should have an effective early dismissal mechanism, an objective test for filtering SLAPPs out of court, and the ability for judges to minimise costs and penalise bad conduct.
In a statement, the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition said: “A commitment to stamp out SLAPPs is a commitment to ensuring British justice remains a level playing field.
“Only then can SLAPP targets – be they journalists, campaigners, local organisers, sexual violence survivors, victims’ advocates or anyone speaking out in the public interest – mount a defence without being threatened into silence by the costs, trauma and disruption an abusive legal threat can cause.”
Mr Cowper-Coles added: “With the EU and parts of Canada and the US already benefiting from anti-SLAPP legislation or in the process of introducing protections, the UK is at risk of becoming an outlier in its failure to introduce universal anti-SLAPP protections.
“That is concerning where all the evidence shows London is one of the ‘SLAPP’ capitals of the world and a first port of call for the wealthy when seeking to silence public interest speech.”
The letter comes in the wake of the SRA failing with high-profile prosecutions about SLAPP-like conduct and the High Court overturning a finding of misconduct against Ashley Hurst over his work for former Conservative Chancellor Nadeem Zahawi, although the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said it did not amount to a SLAPP.
Leave a Comment